Bruce's Decision to Play a Stratocaster

[donna plasky]

Hello. There is something I've always wondered about, and I thought perhaps I'd ask the question here, in case anyone knows the answer.

From studying The Shadows, I've seen that Bruce started out with an acoustic guitar, then tried several different electric guitars, and apparently he finally settled upon a Stratocaster (not counting the Burns era). I was wondering if there is a particular reason why he went with the Strat, and not the Jazzmaster or the Telecaster...especially since Bruce doesn't use a tremolo arm or a Bigsby.

Logically, I can see where Bruce and Jet would transition to Fenders since Hank was using one. The shape of the headstock matches on their three guitars, which looked nice. And maybe the tones matched better if they're all the same brand (?). But I'd be curious to know why Bruce didn't have the Jazzmaster and/or Tele painted fiesta red and go with that.

If it's OK to ask a second question, I was wondering if there is any rule of thumb as to which guitar (in the following example) is more likely to go out of tune: Bruce's guitar on which he's playing rhythm, involving hundreds of strums, or Hank's guitar on which he's playing lead, involving a lot of tremolo arm use and probably some string bending?

Thank you kindly,
Donna

[dave robinson]

As someone who collects and uses many of the available guitars, I personally wouldn't choose a Strat for rhythm, as my Telecaster and Jazzmaster are more stable at holding tuning, as well as offering what I think are better rhythm tones. That said, I think that Bruce probably favoured the Strat because of aethetics and uniformity , as he had the Jazzmaster and Telecaster at one point, but Jennings did supply a set of matching red guitars that looked absolutely awesome, which probably made the decision for him - later to be followed by the matching Burns guitars which looked equally stunning
Can anyone shed any light on whether this is fact?

[Mike Honey]

Good questions Donna! I always assumed that, as young men with growing popularity, the shads would have been showered with offers of free guitars by various manufacturers/distributers, and it was their management's decision to go with Fender. We all know the story of getting the strat confused with James Burtons Tele (who did pay for that?), but would that have affected any future decision?

mike

[neil2726]

Seems they had what was GIVEN to them i.e. Strats and Vox amps. It gave a good impression on stage and at that time they all wore the same suits! AT one point hey all had the same hairstyle!

[cockroach]

Back then, you'd have used matching Rosetti Solid Sevens if they were FREE...

[cockroach]

Ooops, forgot the second question Donna..sorry. Perhaps I can suggest some thoughts...

The Tele has a fixed non-vibrato bridge and the Jazzmaster (and Jaguar) have a device to lock the vibrato unit by pushing a button on the tailpiece plate.

Unless a Strat vibrato unit is made 'solid' by using a wooden block inserted in the back cavity, or using five springs which are also tightened up by the 'claw' mounting, the bridge unit can be sensitive to movement if pressure is accidentally applied, which puts the tuning out.

In any case, I think Bruce may have quite a light touch when strumming- he is not a thrasher or a 'flogger' as Don Wilson (rhythm player with the Ventures) describes himself. Also, using heavier gauge strings for rhythm helps, as light gauges will not give such a clean solid rhythm sound and will break and detune easier than heavier types(I think Bruce uses 10-52?)
Like Hank, he would also have used even heavier string gauges back in the '50's and '60's (13-56 approx.)

The tuning problems which drove Bruce mad,( and drove Hank and him to seek new guitar designs from Burns in the early '60's) may have been caused by incorrect adjustment of the bridge saddles which would render the guitars difficult if not impossible to get properly in tune.

There was a well known photo of Hank and his red rosewood board Strat on the cover of a Beat Instrumental magazine in the '60's, which showed clearly that the bridge saddles had all been adjusted into a nice neat STRAIGHT LINE! Looks very neat, but no wonder they had tuning problems!

Back then, there weren't too many guitar experts, luthiers etc around, and there was little detailed information about the maintenance and technical side of electric guitars, and of course, no internet to help solve problems or from which to get advice!

[leddo]

I think getting the guitars for free was the major factor. I don't think Bruce played a Strat until the red/rosewood guitars arrived. Slightly off topic, but you could also get hardtail (non tremolo Strats) in those days although I think they may have been special order guitars. Also, was it about this time that Fender switched from one string tree to double string trees on the Stratocaster? I am not sure what difference these little pests make to the overall playing and tuning experience. Perhaps someone can answer with the science involved with string trees.

[JimN]

I think getting the guitars for free was the major factor. I don't think Bruce played a Strat until the red/rosewood guitars arrived. Slightly off topic, but you could also get hardtail (non tremolo Strats) in those days although I think they may have been special order guitars. Also, was it about this time that Fender switched from one string tree to double string trees on the Stratocaster? I am not sure what difference these little pests make to the overall playing and tuning experience. Perhaps someone can answer with the science involved with string trees.

Irrespective of what was available from Fender in the USA, I'm sure that several items, including the so-called hard-tail Stratocaster (ie, the Strat without tremolo), were never routinely made available in the UK by either Jennings or Selmer. They might have been available by special order, but why would anyone have gone to that trouble? The odds are that Bruce never even heard of a non-trem Strat at the relevant time (unless it was mentioned in passing in the 1958 catalogue*).

The switch from one string-tree to two string trees was a definite CBS-era amendment, and came in well after the enlargement of the headstock (c.1965) and the abandonment of Kluson tuners (c.1966). All three changes were topped off with the thickening of the headstock, the addition of the bullet truss-rod adjuster at the headstock end (c.1972) and the glopped-on polyester "toffee apple" finish and the transformation was complete: the CBS Strat was a parody of the Fender Strat and would remain so until 1982.

YMMV.

The string-tree wasn't all that important on a guitar fitted with medium gauge strings (13-56). CBS probably saw a need for the extra tree when lighter strings became the preferred norm. Even so, it was never popular and some players even removed the extra one.

JN

[* Although the non-trem Stratocaster was mentioned in USA catalogues, including the one circulated by Arbiter in 1967, it was never pictured, leaving the reader to wonder what on Earth it could have looked like.

[Didier]

Bruce played a Jazzmaster between early 1960 and march/april 1961 when Hank and Bruce were suplied by JMI the Stratocasters with rosewood neck, which they played until 1964 when they switched to Burns.
I have no information on how Bruce got the Jazzmaster, but I doubt he paid for it himself.
When JMI became UK distributors for Fender guitars, they received mostly sunburst Strats, which were often repainted locally in fiesta red to meet the demand for this colour. Hank's and Bruce's ones were in this case (as I recently discovered in an interview where hank says : "two stratocaster and one Precision Bass were specially painted in fiesta red for us").
Not sure getting a Strat was Bruce's choice, but as the guitars were lended for free by JMI for promotional purposes, the choice was easy...

Didier

[cockroach]

Two comments Jim...

Modern string trees with a cylindrical grooved small horizontal bar don't make the strings catch and detune like those old 'wavy' Fender types, which looked like a tiny piece of corrugated iron! The modern versions are not original vintage fittings, but much more practical for actual use.

Also, although you obviously don't like later CBS Strats, particularly the 1970's models, they still are being advertised for sale at relatively high prices.....when I saw Roy Buchanan play live in the late '70's, he used a brand new CBS natural finish hard tail Strat, rather than his legendary Telecaster...his playing and sound didn't suffer either!